VERSTAPPEN ENDS RECORD BREAKING SEASON IN STYLE

Max Verstappen triumphed again at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and closed the 2023 season with 19 wins to his name.

The Dutchman had no rival in the last race of the year and from the start he went strongly towards his 54th victory in Formula 1, thus surpassing Sebastian Vettel.

The runner-up in the Constructors' Championship is Mercedes AMG.

The race with little excitement in the fight for victory. But Charles Leclerc not only wanted to be second, but also to give Ferrari second place. Although the Monachian tried his best, even allowing Sergio Perez to overtake him at the end, to achieve this, in the end it was not enough.

George Russell returned to the podium thanks to a five-second penalty for Sergio Perez and it was very important for Mercedes AMG, as Lewis Hamilton could not have finished better than ninth.

McLaren drivers were fifth and sixth, with Fernando Alonso seventh to finish fourth in the drivers' championship, tied with Leclerc. Carlos Sainz Jr., after a complicated race, quit.

The twenty-second and last race in the 2023 season of the Formula 1 Championship. Although Red Bull did not look as strong as at other tracks, Max Verstappen recorded his twelfth pole position of the year.

Several drivers were "out of position", and the fight for the second place among the constructors, as well as the fourth place among the drivers, was still open. According to Pirelli, there wasn't much difference between one or two pit stops, so we had different strategies.

Charles Leclerc's start was very good and he even had several opportunities to overtake Max Verstappen, in turns 1 and 6, but the Dutchman defended well.

Oscar Piastri was third, ahead of Lando Norris, George Russell and Yuki Tsunoda, who was overtaken by Fernando Alonso at the start, but then managed to recover.

Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez were already in the Top 10, and Carlos Sainz Jr. came in thirteenth position.

In just two laps, Max Verstappen managed to open a gap of more than a second over Charles Leclerc, which prevented the Monegasque from opening the DRS system when it was enough on the third lap.

However, the difference did not increase drastically, as tire management was at the fore.

As soon as the DRS system could be used, Sergio Perez went hunting for Lewis Hamilton and easily took ninth place. In the fourth lap, Lando Norris overtook Oscar Piastre for the third place.

Three laps later, in seventh, George Russell also began an overtaking maneuver on the Australian, but failed to complete it.

The Mercedes AMG driver had to wait until lap eleven to move up to fourth, at times when Perez was already in a battle with Gasly.

The race settled down and drivers began to report the first problems with tire degradation, which meant that a pit-stop was not too far away.

Soon after, in the twelfth lap, Sergio Perez overtook Pierre Gasly, and at the end of that lap, Fernando Alonso pitted and replaced the yellow tires with white ones.

Fernando's stop forced Oscar Piastri into lap 14 and they had a nice battle until turn 9, but the Australian stayed ahead.

In the 15th lap, Lando Norris and George Russell also entered, and Lando's stop was 5.1 seconds, after which the McLaren driver lost his position on the track. Hamilton and Ocon stopped in the 16th, Verstappen at the end of the next, and immediately after that, Leclerc, Perez and Gasly headed to the pits.

Yuki Tsunoda decided to stay last on the track and took the race lead, which he held for three laps. The Japanese headed to change tires on lap 22.

Max Verstappen returned to the lead of the race and was four seconds ahead of Charles Leclerc, who was ahead of Norris, Piastri and Alonso. Sergio Perez with fresher tires than his rivals passed Fernando Alonso in lap 25 and Oscar Piastre in lap 28.

We entered the second half of the race and Verstappen was already more than six seconds ahead of Leclerc, who was two seconds ahead of Russell and four ahead of Norris.

Sergio Perez was already fifth and not far from the podium positions, so the end of the race looked interesting. Alonso, for his part, was just over a second behind Piastre and with Hamilton's threats, Tsunoda behind.

The second round of pit stops was started by Lando Norris on lap 34, with George Russell coming in one lap later. Leclerc, Hamilton, Piastre and Alonso headed to their pits.

The Spaniard was overtaken by Lewis Hamilton in the exiting lap, but already in the next lap the driver of Aston Martin took the position on the inside of the sixth turn.

Sergio Perez lasted until the 43rd lap, Max Verstappen until the 44th lap. With the race stabilizing again, Verstappen was more than five seconds ahead of Leclerc with 14 laps remaining.

Russell was three seconds behind the Monacan and four seconds ahead of Norris, but Sergio Perez was supposed to "fly" in the last part of the race. The Mexican overtook the McLaren driver on lap 48, after a failed attempt a lap earlier, which included contact between the two cars.

The stewards ruled that Perez caused the collision and was penalized with 5 seconds.

Verstappen had no problems in the last laps and recorded his 54th victory in Formula 1.

But the battle was going on behind him because Leclerc wanted the runner-up position for Ferrari in addition to the second place, so he let Perez in front of him who had a five second penalty.

However, the move turned out to be late, so Sergio after applying the penalty fell to fourth place, behind Leclerc and Russell.